Man accused in beating pleads not guilty

A man accused of going on crime spree last month that included the near fatal beating of a Northridge teenager pleaded not guilty Friday to a string of felony charges including premeditated attempted murder.

Terrence Jarvis, 26, also faces charges of robbery, with gang and gun-use allegations, felony battery, attempted robbery and shooting into an inhabited dwelling.

A co-defendant, David White, 20, faces similar charges but has not been extradited to San Diego from Arizona where he was arrested last week on a parole violation.

After hearing a few details of the case from a prosecutor, San Diego Superior Court Judge David Szumowski ordered Jarvis held in county jail on a no-bail status. The judge said he considered the defendant to be a danger to community because of the allegations in this case and Jarvis’ previous criminal record.

The judge appointed the Office of the Alternate Public Defender to represent Jarvis.

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lawson said in court that Jarvis and White are accused in crime spree that began Dec. 27, with a gang-related assault in the Emerald Hills neighborhood of San Diego.

The incident was captured on video, the prosecutor said.

Nine hours later, suspects robbed a woman on Logan Avenue in Mountain View, taking her wallet. One of the robbers, whom the prosecutor said was Jarvis, was armed with a double-barreled shotgun. The robbers then tried to rob Woodstock’s Pizza on El Cajon Boulevard about 12:30 a.m. Dec. 28.

Lawson said the suspects fled and later came across Grant Richman, 18, who had just parked the vehicle he had been driving and was on his way to visit a friend.

Richman, a University of California Berkeley student, was then “savagely beaten and left for dead in a pool of his own blood,” and robbed, the prosecutor said.

The robbers also shot up a house in Emerald Hills with a shotgun and a .22-caliber weapon.

Jarvis was arrested Dec. 29 at a home in Skyline on domestic violence charges and a parole violation. He had a Richman’s credit cards and a personal check in his possession, and was wearing a sweatshirt with a blood stain on it.

DNA tests revealed that it was Richman’s blood. Further tests linked blood found in White’s car Richman, the prosecutor said.